India on Sunday won its maiden Thomas Cup after defeating 14-time champion Indonesia by 3-0 in the final match. The game was played at the Impact Arena in Thailand. The Indian badminton team led by Lakshya Sen, Kidambi Srikanth, and the doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy and Chirag Shetty defeated Indonesia.
The Thomas Cup is also popularly known as the World’s Men’s Team Championship. It is an international level badminton tournament among the members of the Badminton World Federation. The cup is named after Sir George Alan Thomas, a successful English badminton player who wanted to have an international level competition.
Talking about the match, in the initial phase, Lakshya Sen defeated Anthony Ginting by 8-21, 21-17, 21-16 which at last was declared a tie. The most important and exceptional performance was given by the duo Satwik and Chirag. They defeated Ahsan – Sukamuljio 18-21,23-21,21-19. The duo gave a sensational victory and with which India took a lead by 2-0.
The third game was played by Kidami Srikanth and with his charismatic performance, he defeated Jonatan Christie 21-15,23-21 and this made India’s score in match 3-0. The young star Lakshya Sen made a superb comeback. In his first set, he wasn’t able to perform well and scored an 8-21 defeat.
Before this match, India defeated Malaysia and Denmark in the quarter-final and semi-finals to grab their seat in the tournament. This was the first time when an Indian badminton team reached the semifinals.
After the win, a string of happiness reached the country from Bangkok. Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted and congratulated the team for making the country proud and said “This win will motivate upcoming sportspeople.” The Union Minister of Sports announced 1crore as a cash reward to the winning team.
